logrolling

n.

1. The exchanging of political favors, especially the trading of influence or votes among legislators to achieve passage of projects that are of interest to one another.
2. The exchanging of favors or praise, as among artists, critics, or academics.
3. See birling.

[From the early American practice of neighbors gathering to help clear land by rolling off and burning felled timber.]

Origin: 1792

It began as a down-to-earth pioneer word. Preparing a homestead in the wilderness meant chopping down trees to clear a field for planting. Neighbors would come for the day to roll the logs into a pile, either to burn them or to construct a log cabin. And it was a social occasion. From 1792 we have a remark that "The standard dinner dish at log-rollings, house-raisings, and harvest days, was a large pot-pie."

Logrolling was a way to get settled quickly. "A family comes to sit down in the forest," wrote an observer in 1835. "Their neighbors lay down their employments, shoulder their axes, and come in to the log-rolling. They spend the day in hard labor, and then retire, leaving the newcomers their good wishes, and an habitation."

Politicians have long recognized that logrolling is mutually beneficial in legislative halls too. The word was applied to the political practice of reciprocal backscratching as early as 1809.

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Vote trading between legislators, in order to obtain legislation or appropriations favourable to the legislator's home district, with the understanding that ‘you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours’.

log‐rolling, a disreputable form of collusion in the reviewing of books, whereby one author writes a glowing appraisal of his or her friend's book, and the friend repays the favour by endorsing the first author's books too. The term arises from the proverbial phrase ‘You roll my log and I'll roll yours’. See also claque.

Logrolling is the term used when members of congress support each other's hometown projects not for the merit of the project but simply as a reciprocative exchange. The first known use of the term was by Congressman Davy Crockett, who said on the floor in 1835, "my people don't like me to log-roll in their business, and vote away pre-emption rights to fellows in other states that never kindle a fire on their own land." Logrolling is closely akin to, and results in, pork barrel legislation that loads up spending bills with hometown project money, often directed toward suspect causes or construction. It is an affliction of the democratic process that seems incurable.

Bibliography

Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed., s.v. "Logrolling." New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

A legislative practice of embracing in one bill several distinct matters, none of which, perhaps, could singly obtain the assent of the legislature, and then procuring its passage by a combination of the minorities in favor of each of the measures into a majority that will adopt them all.

Practice of including in one statute or constitutional amendment more than one proposition, inducing voters to vote for all, notwithstanding they might not have voted for all if amendments or statutes had been submitted separately.

In politics, advance agreement by legislators to vote for one another's bills. Logrolling is most common when legislators are trying to secure votes for bills that will benefit their home districts. For example, a group of congressmen from the Middle West pushing for higher dairy prices and a group of southern congressmen supporting higher tobacco prices might make a logrolling agreement in order to get both bills passed.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - samarbejde om at rulle tømmer, konkurrence hvor flådeførere forsøger at skubbe hinanden i vandet, studehandel, korruption, gensidig hjælp

Nederlands (Dutch)
het wegrollen van geveld hout, het aanprijzen van elkaars werk, wederzijdse politieke ondersteuning, elkaar van drijvende boomstam stoten (sport)

Français (French)
n. - (US, Pol) trafic de faveurs

Deutsch (German)
n. - Praktik, Gefälligkeiten auszutauschen, Kuhhandel

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αλληλοϋποστήριξη, (μτφ.) πολιτική συμμαχία σκοπιμότητας

Italiano (Italian)
scambio di favori, trasporto di tronchi

Português (Portuguese)
n. - auxílio (m) mútuo (por voto recíproco) (Pol.)

Русский (Russian)
взаимные услуги, перекатка бревен

Español (Spanish)
n. - intercambio de favores políticos, publicidad mutua entre dos escritores

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - samarbete om att rulla bort timmer, (pol. fam.) kohandel, (om författare o.d.) ömsesidigt beröm, ömsesidig reklam, vänrecenserande

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
滚原木, 互相吹捧, 水上踩滚木, 互投赞成票

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 滾原木, 互相吹捧, 水上踩滾木, 互投贊成票

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 상호 원조, 결탁, 통나무 굴리기

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 相互援助, 丸太乗り, 結託

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) دحرجه الأخشاب الطافيه في الماء بالدوس, عليها, رياضه قوامها هذه الدحرجه, تبادل المعونه والخبرات‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮ספורט בו שני אנשים עומדים על בולי עץ במים, ומנסים להפיל איש את רעהו, שמור לי ואשמור לך, הרעפת שבחים הדדית‬

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